Beam converting apparatus with a parallel light beam input and output from one prism plane

ABSTRACT

The present invention presents a beam converting apparatus which comprises a semiconductor laser element, 
     means for converting the laser beam from the semiconductor laser element into a parallel beam, and 
     a prism possessing a first plane for receiving the parallel beam and a second plane for fully reflecting so that the beam entering from the first plane may be emitted from the first plane, wherein the apex angle of the first plane and second plane is defined so that the sum of the incidence angle (θ1) to the normal of the first plane and the exit angle (θ2) to the normal of the first plane of the beam fully reflected from the second plane emitted from the first plane, (θ1+θ2), may be about 90 degrees.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a beam converting apparatus suitable for beam shaping used in optical disk and other optical pickups.

2. Description of the Prior Art

A fundamental construction of a beam shaping optical system in an optical pickup is, hitherto, as shown in FIG. 1. That is, as the light source for optical pickup, generally, a semiconductor laser element 11 is used. Its far-field pattern, or the light intensity distribution of the beam section is approximately elliptical. The luminous flux emitted from the semiconductor laser element 11 is converted into a parallel luminous flux by a collimator lens 12, and is applied to a beam shaping optical system 15 in which the light intensity distribution of the beam section is shaped into a circular form, and the luminous flux is focused on the signal plane of an optical disk 14 by an objective lens 13 to record or reproduce the signal. In the semiconductor laser element 11, structurally, the emission angle is wide in the direction vertical, and narrow in the direction parallel, to the junction plane of the semiconductor laser chip. Expressing each emission angle as θ10 and θ11, the relation is generally θ10:θ11=approx. 3:1. That is, l1 in FIG. 1 is the luminous flux in the θ10 direction, and l2 is the luminous flux in the θ11 direction, and by expanding the luminous flux l2 by the beam shaping optical system 15, the light intensity distribution of the beam section is shaped into a circular form.

In the prior art having the structure as shown in FIG. 2 (e.g. The Japanese Patent Publication Sho. No. 61-53775), the optical system 15 is bent at an acute angle by the shaping prism 16, and the optical pickup is increased in size, while the shape of the optical block, that is, the housing is complicated and the cost is high. Furthermore, when attempted to thin the optical pickup, a triangular mirror or a plate mirror known as a riser mirror is placed behind the shaping prism 16 so as to deflect the light by 90 degrees, and this riser mirror was also a cause of increasing the cost.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is hence a primary object of the invention to present a beam converting apparatus reduced in its structural size, by shaping the laser beam from the semiconductor laser element into a circular form, and deflecting the laser beam by about 90 degrees.

To achieve the above object, the invention presents a beam converting apparatus which comprises:

a semiconductor laser element,

means for converting the laser beam from the semiconductor laser element into a parallel beam, and

a prism possessing a first plane for receiving the parallel beam and a second plane for fully reflecting so that the beam entering from the first plane may be emitted from the first plane, wherein the apex angle of the first plane and second plane is defined so that the sum of the incidence angle θ1 to the normal of the first plane and the exit angle θ2 to the normal of the first plane of the beam fully reflected from the second plane emitted from the first plane, (θ1+θ2), may be about 90 degrees.

According to the invention, in order to set the rise angle of the luminous flux which is a laser beam, that is, the deflecting angle to about 90 degrees, the apex angle θ3 of the first plane and second plane is determined so that the sum of the incidence angle θ1 to the normal of the first plane of the prism and the exit angle θ2 to the normal of the first plane, (θ1+θ2), may be about 90 degrees. As a result, the rise angle of the laser beam may be set at about 90 degrees, and also by determining the shaping ratio W1/W2 (see FIG. 5) of the luminous flux width of the laser beam emitted from the semiconductor laser element at about 1:3, the luminous flux in the direction θ11 parallel to the junction plane in the semiconductor laser chip of the semiconductor laser element is expanded about three times, so that the intensity distribution of the laser beam section may be shaped in a circular form. Thus is realized a prism simultaneously possessing both the function of the shaping prism mentioned in relation to the prior art and the function of the riser mirror.

In this invention, therefore, by setting the sum of the incidence angle θ1 to the normal of the first plane of the prism and the exit angle θ2 to the normal of the first plane of the light fully reflected by the second plane and emitted from the first plane at about 90 degrees, the parallel beam obtained by setting the semiconductor laser element parallel is raised and deflected to about 90 degrees, and the intensity distribution of the laser beam section may be transformed from a flat profile to a circular form, and such structure may be reduced in size.

In the prism of the invention, meanwhile, the apex angle θ3 of the first plane and second plane is selected at about 15 degrees when the incidence angle θ1 to the normal of the first plane is about 75 degrees, and the exit angle θ2 to the normal of the first plane of the light fully reflected by the second plane is about 15 degrees.

Furthermore, a reflection preventive film is formed on the first plane of the prism.

The prism of the invention is composed of glass of which refractive index is about 1.765, and the wavelength of the laser beam emitted from the semiconductor laser element at this time is selected at 780 nm.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other and further objects, features and advantages of the invention will be more explicit from the following detailed description taken with reference to the drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side view showing a fundamental structure of an optical pickup,

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a prism 16 in the prior art,

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a prism 1 used in a beam converting apparatus in one of the embodiments of the invention,

FIG. 4 is a side view showing the entire structure of an embodiment of the invention, and

FIG. 5 is a sectional view for explaining the operation of shaping a flat laser parallel beam by the prism 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring now to the drawings, preferred embodiments of the invention are described below.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a prism 1 used in a beam converting apparatus of one of the embodiments of the invention. This prism 1 is used in the beam converting apparatus of an optical pickup of which entire structure is shown in FIG. 4. A semiconductor laser element 3 is disposed in laser beam emitting and receiving means 2. The laser beam from the semiconductor laser chip of the semiconductor laser element 3 is transformed into a parallel beam by a collimator lens 4, and is raised to about 90 degrees by the prism 1, and is led into an objective lens 5. The laser beam from this objective lens 5 is focused on a reading plane 7 of an optical disk 6, and is modulated by the pits in the optical disk 6. The luminous flux reflected by this reading plane 7 runs through the objective lens 5, prism 1 and collimator lens 4, and is diffracted by a hologram diffraction element 8 disposed on the front plane of the emitting and receiving means 2, and is photoelectrically converted by a detector element 9, thereby reading the information recorded in the recording plane 7 of the optical disk 6. By using this prism 1, the parallel beam from the collimator lens 4 is raised by the rise angle of θ0, and the angle θ0 led into the objective lens 5 is about 90 degrees. The objective lens 5 is controlled in focus and tracking by a driving source 10.

The prism 1 possesses a first plane 1a and a second plane 1b. The light entering from the first plane 1a, is fully reflected by the second plane 1b so as to be emitted from the first plane 1a. The apex angle θ3 between the first plane 1a and the second plane 1b is determined so that the incidence angle θ1 to the normal 20 of the first plane 1a may be about 75 degrees, and that the exit angle θ2 to the normal 22 of the first plane 1a of the light 21 fully reflected from the second plane 1b emitted from the first plane 1a may be about 15 degrees. This apex angle θ3 is about 15 degrees.

The light entering the first plane 1a of the prism 1 is refracted according to Snell's law, and enters within the prism 1. ##EQU1## where θ21 is the exit angle of the light into the prism 1 to the normal of the first plane 1a, n1 is the refractive index of air, and n11 is the refractive index of the prism 1. On the second plane 1b, according to the rule of reflection, the light is reflected so that the incidence angle and reflection angle may be equal, and returns to the first plane 1a, and is refracted according to Snell's law and is emitted outside the prism 1. In order to set the shaping ratio W1/W2 at about 1:3 while keeping the rise angle θ0 of the luminous flux at about 90 degrees, the apex angle θ3 of the prism 1 is about 12.4 degrees when the material of the prism 1 is a glass of which refractive index n11 is about 1.765, and is about 14.9 degrees when the material is a glass of which refractive index n11 is about 1.511, while the wavelength of the semiconductor laser element 3 at this time is 780 nm. FIG. 5 is a sectional view of parallel beam as seen from section line A-A1 in FIG. 4, and the double dot chain line in FIG. 5 denotes the section of the luminous flux as seen from the section line B-B1. The width W1 of the luminous flux initially entering the prism 1 is expanded to W2,

    W2≈3·W1                                   (2)

and thus the luminous flux width is expanded about three times by the refraction and reflection of the prism, and the luminous flux having a nearly elliptical section of the incident parallel beam is shaped into a luminous flux of a nearly circular section. The incidence angle θ1 to the normal of the first plane 1a is selected at around 75 degrees because, by setting the exit angle θ2 to the normal at around 15 degrees, the luminous flux may be deflected by about 90 degrees and the shaping ratio W1/W2 may be set to about 1:3. In other words, if the incidence angle θ1 to the normal is set larger, the returning luminous flux from the disk 6 by full reflection is entrapped within the prism 1, and when the incidence angle θ1 to the normal line is set smaller, the shaping ratio W1/W2 becomes smaller, and the intended object is not realized.

Or else, by forming a reflection preventive film on the first plane 1a of the prism, the reflection of the incident luminous flux may be prevented. The effect of prevention of reflection by the reflection preventive film is expected in the material having a large refractive index n11 of the medium of the prism 1.

In such beam converting apparatus, the collimated luminous flux before shaping which enters the prism 1 is flat, as shown in FIG. 5, with respect to the heightwise direction of the optical pickup (the vertical direction in FIG. 4), and the space produced by this flatness may be packed with magnetic circuit of the driving source 10, base member and others. As a result, an optical pickup thin in the vertical direction may be realized.

Incidentally, it was conventionally attempted to obtain the same effect as in the present invention by a half mirror of flat plate as disclosed in the Japanese Laid-open Patent Sho. No. 63-247716, but by shaping of the collimated beam by multiple reflection in this flat plate mirror, the wave front of the luminous flux that must be controlled in the order of wavelength is largely deviated, and a spot cannot be focused within the diffraction limit by the objective lens. By contrast, with the prism 1 of the invention, the wave front is not changed at all, and the luminous flux after shaping may be led into the objective lens 5 without generating any wave front aberration, so that a spot of favorable diffraction limit may be obtained by the objective lens 5.

In this embodiment, therefore, only by incorporating the prism 1 to a simple structure into the optical housing at the same precision as in the riser mirror, the functions of both shaping prism and riser mirror may be obtained at the same time, and further by effectively utilizing the space produced by the flat luminous flux before shaping, an ultrathin optical pickup of low cost will be presented.

The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The present embodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description and all changes which come within the meaning and the range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A beam converting apparatus comprising:a semiconductor laser element, means for converting the laser beam from the semiconductor laser element into a parallel beam, and a prism possessing a first plane for receiving and transmitting the parallel beam and a second plane for fully reflecting so that the beam entering from the first plane may be emitted from the first plane, wherein the apex angle of the first plane and second plane is defined so that the sum of the incidence angle (θ1)to the normal of the first plane and the exit angle (θ2) to the normal of the first plane of the beam fully reflected from the second plane emitted from the first plane, (θ1+θ2), is about 90 degrees.
 2. A beam converting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the prism is designed so that the apex angle formed by the first plane and the second plane is about 15 degrees, and when the incidence angle θ1 to the normal of the first plane is about 75 degrees, the exit angle θ2 to the normal on the first plane of the light fully reflected by the second plane is about 15 degrees.
 3. A beam converting apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a reflection preventive film is formed on the first plane of the prism.
 4. A beam converting apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the prism is made of a glass of which refractive index is about 1.765 for a wavelength of 780 nm of the laser beam emitted from the semiconductor laser element. 